Although our main focus is not grammar, something my EFL students always complain about is UNDERSTANDING how to use grammar. Many of them only have a chance to listen to an explanation once in class and others who have missed that specific class feel totally lost. This is the reason behind these videos. I tried to make the explanations simple / short and give them examples.

PASSIVE VOICE

REPORTED SPEECH

RELATIVE CLAUSES

The idea Khan presented of maybe flipping the things around in the classroom made me think.
What if we offered grammar explanations via video and used the time in class to learn how to use it in practice? Well, let's see if they find it helpful.

Oh, to create the slides, two programs were used: Powerpoint or ActivInspire. Then, I used http://screencast-o-matic.com/ to record my voice while explaining the topic.

November 19, 2011

I've posted about TOKBOX many times before, and it used to be my favourite site for video messaging. However, with the changes that happened to the site and their choice to focus on the chat feature, I ended up giving it up, at least for teaching purposes.

This afternoon, I invited some teachers from CULTURA EDTECH (online course I facilitate) and a couple of friends from facebook to join me in a new trial.

The site we tried was TUBEIT. It allows you to create an instant chat room where participants have access to their webcam and microphones and also watch a selected YOUTUBE video chosen by the person who sets up the room.

Today, I chose a video interview with Marc Prensky, where he discusses about the ROLE OF TEACHERS TODAY.

I guess there's a limit of participants for the session (I"m not sure) as I could see the possibility of 7 webcams in the room. It's extremely easy to use. You just go to http://tubeit.opentok.com/ write your name, paste the video URL (from Youtube), grab the link to the room in TUBEIT, share with invitees via twitter, facebook or e-mail and start your discussion.

This is how I planned it:
1. I greeted participants.
2. Participants had the chance to introduce themselves (webcam)
3. Pre-question to start the discussion. ("What's the role of teachers?")
4. Participants gave their opinion.
5. We watched the video interview.
6. Used quotes from the interview to promote discussion.

Problems: well, the sound wasn't 100% (some speech breakdowns) but we managed to develop a discussion.

These are the screenshots I took of the session with Roberta Righetto (Mato Grosso), Gildeta (Campinas), Ana Lucas (Uberlandia), Nina (Ukraine), Angeles Berman (Mexico?).

I'll be investigating my own path as a teacher and teacher educator using Narrative Inquiry which will allow me to relive my experience and this way build new meanings as I retell and listen to my lived stories.

WELCOME!

I'm Ana Maria Menezes. An EFL teacher, teacher developer and online moderator. An enthusiastic blogger and curious researcher. M.A. in Linguistic Studies with special interest in teacher development in online environments.